“The last time I wrote a conservation journal the ground was laden with snow, and I was

expecting to soon leave the Squam range for taller and snowier mountain ranges.”

“I love to journey through the roadmap of a word’s etymology. I love to take the heavy-
laden letters, dusted in timeworn layers, dripping with meaning and history, wipe them
off and wring them dry until left with the origin.”

“I like ‘weird’ things.”

“…I picked up an eastern red-spotted newt that had been hanging out under the leaves and ashes in our fire pit. […] I quietly asked him if he was really a peasant turned into a newt by a witch, but I didn’t get much of a response.”

“We gazed up into the sky as the full moon reflected off the mirror like water. There was no wind, everything felt peaceful, and the loons were singing back and forth to each other.”

“Consider what happens when a stone is dropped into a small pond of lily pads. As the water ripples away from the spot it was thrown into, it reaches and affects every individual lily pad within its range.“

“As I continue on my conservation journey in a new place, I am constantly faced with changes and challenges, yet it’s often said that challenges are what make life interesting, and overcoming them is what makes life meaningful.”

“I think spring is one of my favorite times of the year, as the world changes over from one thing to the next, and snow is gradually replaced by tentative green grass (and then more snow, from the inevitable late-season snowstorm).”

“…with careful tank monitoring, reduced feeding, and the prompt removal of any lost fishy souls; I was able to reach some sort of balance in the tank. And for about a week and a half things were pretty good. And then I tore a hole in one of the filter bags.”

“It seems like an impossible wait, a taunt even, before we are overwhelmed by a lush wave of life we seem to never appreciate enough. Be patient.”